Gipsy Dharma Boots

This is sort of a short, random post, but I have found the coolest boots in the world (in my opinion) and just had to share them with you! The company is Gipsy Dharma and they make fabulous leather boots and skirts.

I can totally picture myself in a pair of these when the warm weather hits! My current favourite are these awesome tan leather boots I would feel like a fairy in them! My favourite part is that they are adjustable all the way up, so for those of us with giant calves that never fit into knee high boots, these should still work! That is really awesome to me since I have never in my life been able to buy boots that go over my calves.

These are sadly a bit out of my price range, but they hold regular giveaways on their facebook page, so you should check that out if you want a pair!

What are your dream boots?

Madison Street Beauty Update

A little while ago I did an unboxing post about my Madison Street Beauty haul. Unfortunately, the package had been damaged in the mail and some items were missing. One item was also not what I had asked for. This is just a little update to say everything was resolved!

I contacted the shop owner about my issue and she got back to me within the hour. After a short conversation, she offered to send me everything that I was missing! That was Jan 8th and she said she would immediately send it out. She must have, because the package got here Jan 17th, and shipping here takes about that long. My replacement items were sent in a bubble mailer instead of the flimsier plastic kind like the last one too.

This really impressed me. Not only did she send me free replacements, even though the missing items were possibly at the fault of the post office. On top of that, it seems like she changed the packaging in an attempt to keep what happened before from happening again.

Here are my 3 replacement shades:

The colours from left to right are Iris, Pear and Pistachio.

All of these are really gorgeous. I got a nice mix of mattes and shimmers and their matte formulas are really impressing me! I will have a swatch post for the full haul up soon! I'm glad everything got resolved because the shadows are really nice, and I didn't want to give them a crappy review just because I'm feeling bitter. :P

Great Gifts From Burt's Bees!

When winter hits, I don't know anyone who doesn't need a chapstick! And what is everyone's favourite chapstick? Burt's Bees of course! At least that's what everyone I know around here reaches for. On top of the great lip care Burt's Bees also has a great line of skin care, and even some products men wouldn't mind getting, like their hand salve.

Around the holidays Burt's Bees releases a bunch of little gift sets and collections that come in cute little boxes and bags. They almost always include at least one lip balm and then a few other products. Here is a tiny lip balm trio tin that I picked up today.

This is pretty much the most basic of their gift sets, but I couldn't resist the adorable tin. The Replenishing lip balm with pomegranate oil is one of my favourites as well.

This would make a great stocking stuffer! They have so many great little things to throw in a stocking. One of my other favourite products by them is their cuticle cream. They also have a line of tinted lip balms and lipsticks!

I still haven't decided if this is going to be a gift for someone or if I will keep it for myself. This year I think I am going to gather a few gifts like these for emergencies in case there is anyone I forgot to get a gift for unexpectedly. If at the end of Christas I haven't given them away, they will be mine!

So, if you are in a pinch for what to get a friend this holiday season, don't forget to take a look at Burt's Bees!

BH Cosmetics Black Friday Sale

I won't be doing any crazy shopping today. I'm actually just heading out to work, but I wanted to let you know about one huge sale that I thought you crazy shopping makeup lovers would like to hear about. The BH Cosmetics Black Friday sale is going on now and it is huge. Their products will be up to 70% off! This is off of products that are already very reasonably priced. Some of their 120 palettes are on sale for about $11 right now, so go check it out here. US residents also get free shipping on orders over$50! I use BH Cosmetics products almost daily and love their huge eyeshadow palettes. Don't miss this great sale!!!

MAC Stroke of Midnight Collection Event Sadness

Today I attended an event for the release of MAC's new holiday collection called Stroke of Midnight. While I had a lot of fun at the event, and enjoy the products I picked up immensely, I didn't exactly have the best experience. I should start off by saying that no, I have never been to a MAC event before, or even had my makeup done at any makeup counter either. So on with the story.

Basically, this all started a few weeks ago, when my best friend and I went to the opening of the first H&M in our city. If you were one of the first 500 people through the door, you got a fabulous tote bag filled with some fun goodies, so of course, we showed up a few hours early and waited in line to be one of those people. While waiting, some MAC employees started walking around with a big signup sheet. They made their way over to us and asked us if we would like to attend a fun MAC event in a few weeks and come get a fun makeover. We said of course wrote our names on the list and that was that.

After that I pretty much forgot about it until a few days ago when I had a message on my phone from a MAC employee saying that I had an appointment for a fun makeover at noon on Friday. My friend got the same message, it said nothing else besides when and where to be. I won't lie, at this point, I still had no idea this was for a new product line or anything.

This morning I met up with my friend and we headed down to the mall and looked around the MAC counter while waiting our turns. When we first got there and people started talking to us about the event they said everyone was getting fun makeovers to showcase their new makeup collection, so we sat down and had our makeup done.

Now, it wasn't the actual makeover I had a problem with. This was the first time I've ever really let anyone else do my makeup before and I really like it actually. She did a great job on my eyes, I love the products she picked for my cheeks, and while the lips look like she had a bit of difficulty drawing them on I do love the colour she picked. I will say a few things about the makeover though, the blush on my cheeks didn't look very well blended afterwards. I was sort of a harsh line of blush. My lips were not drawn on very well. I had a bit of a crazy looking clown mouth in a few spots. I wiped that off the second I finished taking a picture of myself. Finally, they didn't do my foundation because I showed up already wearing that and they said it looked great already, but after she finished my eyes she had to wipe fallout under my eyes away. This meant that she had to reapply some undereye concealer. This was fine but she never set it with anything! I do like the colours she picked and what she did with my eyes though. Here is what I looked like with the makeup on:

The problem I have is, once we were all finished they asked us which products we would like to buy. Now of course I wanted them all, but wasn't really prepared to spend that much money today. I was hoping to try them out for the day on my face and come back later to pick what I liked. My friend didn't want anything since she doesn't wear makeup often. When we told them this, they informed us that the price of our makeovers was that we had to spend $50 in MAC products! WHAT? When had this been mentioned? We were both pretty pissed.

We both ended up sucking it up and buying something, but neither one of us left there happy, even though we looked gorgeous. My friend ended up buying the palette they used on her eyes, since she figured that she might actually use it occasionally. That palette was the Stroke of Midnight Eyes in Warm.

I ended up buying the palette they used on my eyes as well, which was the Stroke of Midnight Eyes in Smoky. I also bought the Mineralize Blush in Talk of The Town. This has an amazing gold colour with green undertones to it called Gaelic Gold. It is a very nice cool toned pink that is very frosty. I'm not used to so much shine on my face, but I like it. I will have a full review of these products up soon.

So overall, I liked the makeover and the products I was forced to get, but I am very disappointed that they didn't tell me at any point beforehand that it was going to cost me that much money! I feel even worse for my friend who not only didn't really like what she bought, but wasn't a huge fan of her makeover either. She looked great, but he isn't used to so much makeup on her face. The girl also put bronzer on her face and she is a very pale redhead. It didn't exactly work out perfectly. If I had been told about the price upfront, I probably still would have signed up and just have been better prepared when I showed up.

Am I just being ridiculous? Is this sort of thing supposed to be common knowledge? What do you think?

Not Enough Neutrals

If you haven't noticed yet, I like bright colours. I'm starting to think I may like them a little bit too much sometimes. The past few days I have seen a ton of bloggers and youtubers do beautiful looks in shades of browns, taupes, mauves, greys and tons of other gorgeous shades I have never really considered before. I have always made sure I have a few neutral shades on hand for days when they are really necessary, but certainly not enough to recreate any of the gorgeous looks I have seen lately. Normally if i need to tone it down, I wear metallic shades or a plain cat eye.

So here is why I am posting this: I want you guys to tell me what your favourite neutral eyeshadow palettes are. I'm looking for things with a range of light and dark shades and hopefully a mix of matte a shimmer colours. I have a new-found appreciation for champagnes and chocolate browns, so help me! Drug store or high end brands are both fine as long as the quality is good.

So let me know in the comments, what is your favourite neutral palette and why?

Impulse Cosmetics

I just wanted to take a few minutes of your time to tell you about an indie cosmetics brand that I discovered on Etsy! Impulse Cosmetics has a range of ridiculously bright looking lipsticks, as well as a fairly large selection of fun eyeshadows and glitters.

The reviews on their page seem mostly positive, with lots of people saying that the lipsticks are very highly pigmented and moisturizing. The prices are also extremely reasonable, as is shipping. An eyeshadow or glitter is $4.29 Canadian and the lipsticks are $7.51 Canadian. If these products turn out to be good, I will definitely be getting more! They have some ridiculously cool, unique looking duochrome shadows that I am now regretting not buying.

I ordered a few goodies to test them out and I will have reviews up as soon as I receive them. I picked a couple of their lipsticks in fun, unusual colours, a glittery eyeshadow and their sticky eye base. I have never bought a lipstick that wasn't a typical red or pink or almost purple before, so I'm really excited to get these!

An unboxing and reviews will be up as soon as I receive my package! Until then, check out their Etsy shop and see what you think!

Creme de Couture Last Call

I just wanted to make a quick update, because I think this is really important. Sigma has sent out an email to their customers saying it is the last call to get a Creme de Couture palette if you really want one. Trust me, you want one. They are selling out fast and will never again be available. So if you like the look of those fantastic candy pastel shades, don't wait!

Lunatick Cosmetic Labs

I thought I would just do a quick post about a new company I have found, Lunatick Cosmetics Labs! This is a relatively new company it seems, and so far, I am absolutely in love with them! Their products seem to be aimed at people interested in crazy bright looks and also stage makeup. Even better, all of their products are vegan and cruelty free! Here is the url: http://www.lunaticklabs.com/

They have an amazing selection of products, and many of them have a wonderful zombie theme, so I am even more in love with them. They also have a huge range of unconventional lipstick colours. I just placed my first order with them, and am extremely excited to find out what their stuff is like. I purchased a dust stacker of something called alieNEON pigments, which are UV reactive!!!! I also got a glitter adhesive because I really, really need one of those! Shipping to Canada is a little bit expensive, but I think this will really be worth it.

I suggest you take a look at their website and peruse their bloody, fabulous products! A review will be up as soon as my order arrives, so look forward to that!

Unboxing: BH Cosmetics

Hello everyone! I have just been to the post office to pick up a package from BH Cosmetics and I figured, why not put the unboxing of my new things up here?

I have ordered from BH Cosmetivs a couple of times before and both times was very happy with my purchases and the shipping. I placed my order 13 days ago, and technically it arrived yesterday it just didn't fit in my tiny apartment mailbox, so it was sent to the post office instead. 12 days for shipping may seem like a long time for some of you, but I live in Canada and to me that is fairly prompt!

I ordered from BH because I need a new foundation and noticed that theirs was on sale for 3 dollars!!! That sale is over now but the regular price is $8.95 which is still a great price. Products also go one sale on their website so often you never have to wait long for something you want to be discounted. Because the shipping actually cost more than the foundation I got a few other little goodies to round out my order. :) Without further ado, my BH Cosmetics unboxing!

\ This is what the box looked like when I got it. I was a bit worried some of my makeup would be damaged because one whole side of the box was very dented in, but when I opened it everything was very well packed up.

Here it is just opened. It comes with a little thank you card at the top, and is well packaged in tissue and cardboard.

And here is all is! No damages!

I got the liquid foundation in Light Olive, the Glamorous Blush 10 Color Palette, the Round Stippling Brush, the Angled Definer Brush and an eyeliner sharpener, which was a free gift. I already have one of those, but I manage to break them pretty regularly somehow, so I'm ok with getting another one.

I will do reviews on all of these products once I have tested them out better, but until then here are my first impressions. The foundation feels like a really nice medium-thick coverage foundation. I am used to lightweight coverage but have been noticing some redness on my cheeks has started to show through lately and decided to try something a bit heavier. The blush palette is absolutely gorgeous! There are 5 matte and 5 shimmer shades in it and all of them are very pigmented for a blush. The brushes I got are very soft, synthetic brushes. I already have a 10 piece brush set by BH cosmetics, so I will probably do a review of all the brushes I have by them soon. As for the eyeliner sharpener I was upset at first that the larger end didn't seem to even fit my BH jumbo concealer pencil. Why would a company make a pencil sharpener that doesn't even fit all the pencils they make? A few minutes later, though, I noticed there is a removable ring to make it hole bigger, so it really does fit. They really should write that somewhere though....

I am very pleased with my order and full reviews of all of the products will come soon!